Losee takes back guilty plea to stalking teen girl

A 45-year-old man who admitted falling in love with a 14-year-old daughter of his Clinton Township neighbors withdrew his guilty plea Wednesday to a felony aggravated stalking charge.

Kent Ellsworth Losee asked to withdraw the plea he entered Aug. 30 in Lenawee County Circuit Court when he appeared for sentencing. A prison term had been recommended.

Judge Margaret M.S. Noe agreed to allow the plea to be withdrawn and ordered Losee to return Nov. 5 for a jury trial. He is free on bond.

Assistant Lenawee County Prosecutor Angela Borders told the court she was in agreement with the defense motion to withdraw the plea. At the same time, she said, the plea bargain offered in the case is being rescinded. The bargain included dismissal of a charge of using a computer to commit a crime and agreement that state sentencing guidelines not be exceeded.

Losee was arrested Aug. 14 and his bond raised to $500,000 the next day after Michigan State Police reported finding evidence in a search of his home that Losee may have been preparing to act on his alleged obsession with the teenage neighbor.

The girl’s mother obtained a personal protection order against Losee in October last year. She stated in her petition for the order that Losee came to her home and declared he was in love with the girl but would wait for her to grow up.

Losee’s wife filed a divorce complaint this spring, claiming his obsession with the teenage neighbor was resulting in disturbing behavior. She requested a restraining order to prevent him from contacting her or their daughter.

Michigan State Police also reported finding about 290 messages Losee posted on YouTube that were intended for the girl.

At his plea hearing on Aug. 30, Judge Margaret M.S. Noe asked Losee if he was preoccupied with the girl.

“I definitely was infatuated. I was in love,” Losee said.

He admitted posting the messages on YouTube. He also said he carved two, 42-inch teddy bears from logs with a chain saw to represent himself and the girl, setting the bears on his front porch for her to see.

Noe said Wednesday that she saw no confusion over the terms of the plea bargain, as claimed in a motion by defense attorney Laurence Margolis of Ann Arbor.

It is unusual to allow a guilty plea to be withdrawn after a presentence report and sentence recommendation are available to a defendant, Noe said.

She said enough questions have been raised “about the facts and circumstances surrounding the gathering of information on the original charge” to justify a plea withdrawal in this case.Noe told Losee that the personal protection order and bond conditions prohibiting contact with the girl and her family remain in effect.

After he pleaded guilty on Aug. 30, Noe reduced his bond to $50,000 on the condition a GPS tether be attached to his ankle so his whereabouts could be tracked. He was also ordered to not be within three miles of the victim’s home or any location where she or members of her family might be.

Noe ordered Wednesday that Losee also sign a release of information on his ongoing mental health treatment and therapy to the probation department.